External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday (local time) and discussed ongoing conflicts and the need to mitigate their impact, especially on the Global South.
In a post on X, Jaishankar said, “Glad to meet @UN Secretary General @antonioguterres today. Our discussions focused on ongoing conflicts and the need to mitigate their impact, especially on the Global South.”
The meeting came a day after Jaishankar cautioned that ongoing global conflicts and disruptions to grain shipments and fertiliser production threatened to trigger a major food crisis in the coming months, placing severe compounding pressure on developing nations.
Speaking at an event organised by the Asia Society in New York on Monday (local time), Jaishankar linked the risks to strains across energy supplies, grain exports, fertilisers and global finance.
“We are already looking at major significant fertiliser shortages,” he said, adding that key grain exporters could face severe impediments in dispatching shipments, particularly through critical Black Sea corridors.
“So there is gonna be a major food crisis probably, you know, in the coming months,” Jaishankar said.
He also cautioned that politically driven decisions affecting oil supplies could inflate prices at a time when countries urgently require macroeconomic stability. Jaishankar noted that international conflicts drive capital towards safer financial havens, draining investments away from the Global South.
“Countries should not be so self-centred that you’re in your own world and take your decision,” he said, stressing the need for policymakers to consider the wider impact of their decisions.
